The Tea Party is at it again. The Huffington Post reports that the Tennessee Tea Party wants textbooks to be rewritten. All right, so history changes all the time, everyday. Some of our textbooks do actually need an update. But the update the TP (ironic, I know) is lobbying for has to do with America's less-than-stellar moments. According to Hal Rounds, a TP spokesman, the party wants "no portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership."

"The thing we need to focus on about the Founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn't existed, to everybody -- not all equally instantly -- and it was their progress that we need to look at," Rounds explained of his interpretation of the legacy of the Founding Fathers (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/tennessee-tea-party-demands_n_808508.html).

Wait...what? Basically, the TP wants textbooks to gloss over, or possibly even eliminate anything that puts the founder fathers in a bad light. They want to ignore how the American government took over the Native Americans' land and pushed them out west on the Trail of Tears. They want to rename the slave trade, the "Atlantic triangular trade". Essentially, anything that the founding fathers, or the American government, did to minorities or other races that was wrong, the TP doesn't want our children to learn about it. They don't want our children to know that yes, the government has been screwing up ever since this country was founded.

The past is the past. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. But for the past that's bad, you have to take responsibility. You can't wave a magic wand and pretend it never happened. We can't simply ignore what actually happened, and while it's fine to be ashamed of it, nothing good will ever come of not owning up to it.

Face it, the American government, and the American people, have not always acted well towards other races. The Native Americans were chased off of their sacred tribal lands. Africans were enslaved. Japanese Americans were detained because of something their home country (that they had left to become American citizens) did. African Americans were discriminated against.

Yes, these are black spots on American history. But it is still our history. It needs to be told, our children need to know about it. Or else, everything will just happen again. "Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it."

This is the problem with American Hitory and history in general-whoever won the war writes the books. I wish they would be unbiased and bring up topics like how we were brutal to Native Americans, how we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki because a couple of Generals would have rather made civilians and a culture suffer rather than an actual Military base (true story, they almost bombed Kyoto which would be like bombing Philadelphia here).

They need to write the facts whether they're pretty or not, yes we may be ashamed of dark histories, but it's the kids that are reading these. Learning from our past mistakes will tell today's youth to not make the same mistakes or cheer for the same wrong doings.

Tea Party...bunch of idiots.

Reply

Patrick Holloway

4/6/2011 11:20:09 pm

This is the problem with American Hitory and history in general-whoever won the war writes the books. I wish they would be unbiased and bring up topics like how we were brutal to Native Americans, how we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki because a couple of Generals would have rather made civilians and a culture suffer rather than an actual Military base (true story, they almost bombed Kyoto which would be like bombing Philadelphia here).

They need to write the facts whether they're pretty or not, yes we may be ashamed of dark histories, but it's the kids that are reading these. Learning from our past mistakes will tell today's youth to not make the same mistakes or cheer for the same wrong doings.

I think it's also important to remember that this is not really a new problem. I seriously doubt there's a textbook out there that is completely objective and inclusive. When I was in high school, my textbooks lacked certain details and perspectives. But luckily, I'm a voracious reader, so I was always reading other books that gave me a wider perspective on history.

So I say all that to say: there are serious gaps in the best of textbooks. It's up to the student and/or their parents to make sure that they turn to other sources to get the full story.

Reply

Joseph H.

4/16/2011 10:07:52 pm

I think we can all agree that the tea party is the worst thing to happen ever short of the world wars and dictatorships

I think that's a little harsh, but I agree that they've been a thorn in the country's side. I'm all for making a change and doing your own thing, starting up your own party and all of that. But at least make sure your ideals and visions and plans make sense.